


Special Report

by babyblueglasses



Series: Working Condition [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Protective Loki, Secret Relationship, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-12
Packaged: 2018-08-30 11:39:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8531662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babyblueglasses/pseuds/babyblueglasses
Summary: When the news has you down, sworn enemies aren't supposed to give you pep talks. Then again, they shouldn't be sleeping with you and keeping your secrets either. Good thing Tony and Loki aren't sticklers for the rules.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is in the same vein as In Working Condition, so I've grouped them together, but this is absolutely meant to be able to stand alone.

When Loki materialized in the tower’s common room, every light was off. Only the giant television in the center was on, looping through the Midgardian news cycle. Loki paced towards an immense couch with his eyes set on the screen. 

He was well familiar with the news. It was why he was checking in on Anthony. 

The light from the television shifted on Loki’s features as he set his hand on the back of the couch and glanced down. A brown scruff of hair was there as expected, the man’s face hidden in the crook of his elbow. Tony was lying in a loosely fetal position with one leg stretched further than the other. Loki held back a sigh, watching a reporter address a newsroom again. 

Loki wondered if Anthony had been called to arms, or simply been made to sit through strategizing meetings as they had on Asgard. 

Loki stooped down, silently taking a slow breath at a comfortable distance from Tony’s face, expecting the heavy pungency of alcohol on Tony’s breath as it had been in similar times before this. Loki raised an eyebrow, then leaned closer. He smelled nothing but the warmth of living. 

Careful not to wake Tony, Loki stood again. Perhaps it was not as bad as he feared. Perhaps there had been no need for him to check in on Anthony at all. 

Loki deliberated for a moment before deciding that he would put Tony to bed regardless. It was one of those things they did for each other but never spoke of. Tony often woke in his bed from a binge in the lab without having to wonder how he’d gotten there. Loki silently came around to the front of the couch and leaned down. 

Loki began sliding a hand beneath Tony’s sleeping form. A sharp yelp hit his ears. Loki startled backwards as Tony bolted upright, eyes wide and frantic. He slumped when he recognized Loki. “Lo?” Tony squinted, eyes adjusting in the television light. “I didn’t hear you come in, what’re you doing here?” 

“I thought you were asleep.” 

Tony blinked slowly, his bottom lip disappearing beneath his front teeth for a moment. “I wish,” he admitted.

Loki’s chest was tight as he breathed in, noting the dark circles beneath Tony’s eyes and the deeply set wrinkles across his shirt. After a moment, Loki took the spot beside Tony on the couch. The cushion was warm where Tony had been laying. 

He felt Tony’s eyes on him. Loki propped his feet up on Tony’s coffee table, folding his hands over his stomach. He watched the television, giving Tony the opportunity to speak. Unless it was argument about things between them, they never forced the other to share anything. It was the one rule they’d never broken. 

“I guess you know,” Tony said. There was a lifelessness to his voice that made Loki’s stomach churn. He simply nodded his head. The cushion shook as Tony shifted on the couch, then surprised Loki by laying his head in Loki’s lap. Their eyes met as Loki’s hand set on Tony’s cheek. 

Tony stared up at his mad god, immensely relieved to have him there. Letting out a deep breath, Tony smiled out of sheer gratitude. The world was so heavy. But at least Loki was here. Loki’s thumb brushed against his cheekbone. 

For the first time that Loki could remember, wounded brown eyes held his without any of that trademark Midgardian hope at all. Loki’s protective streak began clawing and salivating for a target. “Has this lead to their revoking your Iron Man suit? Does your foolish captain speak of some new nonsense in response?” Loki tried, attempting to uproot the source. 

“No,” Tony said, slightly amused. “I don’t think Steve and I are going to be disagreeing over this one.” 

Loki combed his fingers through Tony’s hair, instantly frustrated. Someone needed to pay for leaving his Anthony like this. He simply needed to know who. 

Tony recognized the desperation slipping into Loki’s expression, almost glimpsed past it to the wheels turning in Loki’s head. Tony reached up and took Loki’s hand from his head before it could dig a bald spot. He slipped his fingers in-between Loki’s, absorbing the faint chill and relaxing when those fingertips pressed the soft spaces between his tendons. 

“It’s awful, Lo." Tony grimaced in sour resignation. "It’s just awful.” 

Loki’s hand moved with Tony’s as the man brought it to rest beside his face before letting go. Loki took it as a cue to hold his cheek again. He glanced to the television, trying to puzzle out what precisely about this was causing his little Midgardian such distress. “Surely you have been disappointed before,” Loki said. 

“Not like this,” Tony said. He closed his eyes, letting Loki work through that one. When he opened them again, there was some humor. “I _almost_ wish I’d lost against you the first time.” 

Loki returned the smile. “You were not meant to rule yourselves,” he agreed in a dull echo of his former self. 

“We weren’t meant for this,” Tony mumbled back. He turned away, staring at the TV as Loki’s fingers returned to his hair. For a while they simply sat there, each lost in their own thoughts. 

Loki set one hand over the fragile curve of Tony’s neck, quickly removing it when he felt Tony tense. He curled a hand over Tony’s shoulder and held it there in reassurance instead, knowing well how terrible an idea resting it over Tony’s reactor and heart was. Tony had never lain pliantly in his lap before, and rather than excite him as it might have, it unsettled him. 

Outside of their private walls they were well known enemies, but none knew him better than Tony Stark. And although Loki sometimes wondered, there were none that knew Tony better than him. 

Loki brushed his thumb across Tony’s cheek again, as if he could scrub out the unhappiness in a simple gesture. Then he tried to bring Tony back. “Might I interest you in abandoning your heroism?” They'd had the conversation a thousand times before, in varying degrees of seriousness. “I am in need of a competent driver.” 

The Tony that Loki knew and loved flickered back for a few precious seconds. “Nah. I get better benefits at my current gig.” 

“If you change your mind,” Loki said. 

“You’ll be the first one I call,” Tony promised. He crossed his arms over his chest. Sometimes he wished he could be like Loki, he truly did. His path was not an easy one. But he couldn’t go back. He’d never be the person that went into that desert again. Couldn’t be. “Lo,” he said, finding that the desire to speak was coming back to him now, “it’s—” He sighed. He felt the warm drag of a finger against his beard. “I’m a futurist,” Tony said. 

He tilted his head back towards the dark ceiling, settling deeper into Loki’s warm lap. “And sometimes that future can seem kind of bleak, or terrifying, but usually it’s because of global warming, or the potential of a pandemic, or the scenarios of a global stock market crash. A giant meteor. Take your pick. It can be ugly. 

“But Loki,” Tony said, soaking in the quiet solidarity of the hands cradling him, “that future can also be pretty bright.” He took a breath in through his nose. “I certainly don’t think we’ll see even a fraction of it in my lifetime, but the _potential_ is there. I know it is.

“And I thought we were making strides. I thought—hell, despite a lot of things, I thought we were going in that direction. And then this happens, and it’s like—I fly in a metal suit protecting this world because I believe it’s worth fighting for. I invent technology for that better world. Even with Ultron I tried, you know?” 

“You cannot assume full responsibility,” Loki began, reciting a conversation they’d had on Ultron many times before. 

“I know,” Tony reassured him. “It’s just—” He twisted his lips to the side, struggling to explain it to Loki. The god had a thousand years’ experience on him. He’d seen worlds fall and reincarnate so often that it seemed trivial. “What’s the point? You know?” 

Loki straightened his spine, but his grip on Tony became stronger. “That is the most like me you have ever sounded,” Loki said. 

“I guess you’re rubbing off on me,” Tony said. 

“It was not a compliment.” 

Tony’s head turned towards him. While his brows were pinched together in concern, his mouth was pulled into a taut line as he deliberated over his words. Loki didn’t give him the opportunity to speak. “In truth, Anthony, I envy your disposition.” Tony’s mouth fell open to argue, but a finger quickly pressed to his lips and persuaded him to think otherwise. “I may lack your optimism for the future, but that does not mean I fail to see its merits. And while your heroism may not be a path that I may ever claim as my own, that does not excuse it from my envy. I admire your opposition to my own, Tony Stark.” 

“Really?”

Loki allowed half of a smile by way of reply. 

Tony gave half of a smile back. “I—wish I could dump Shield and stop busting my ass for everyone else sometimes, you know? To stop thinking about everything. Stop caring. Sometimes I wish I could raze it all to the ground without giving a shit.” 

“I won’t have you encroaching on my territory,” Loki answered in benevolent humor. 

“You don’t really want to watch Asgard burn,” Tony said softly. 

“No,” Loki admitted. “But do not confuse me for yourself, Stark.” He kneaded the grip that he had on Tony’s shoulder. “Though, if you must know, you mortals have something that Asgard envies very much.” 

“What? Margaritas?” 

“You change,” Loki said. "Remarkably fast."

Tony frowned, rolling his shoulders but careful not to discourage Loki’s grip. “For better or for worse,” he said bitterly. 

Loki hummed by way of answering, raking his fingers through Tony’s hair. “It is not like the Tony Stark I know to bow to a tyrant,” Loki murmured. 

“That’s how we met,” Tony said lightly. 

“And as I recall, you won.” Loki said. He allowed the sentiment behind that to linger for no longer than it took Tony to understand. “I allowed you to win in favor of my own plans,” he amended, “but none the less.” 

Tony rolled his eyes before turning thoughtfully towards Loki. “Now that you say that, I realize there’s one more thing we have in common besides the obvious daddy issues and insanely good looks.” 

“And what’s that?” Loki asked, uncertain of whether or not he should laugh. 

“You tore down Thanos,” Tony said gently. 

“Indeed I did.” 

There was a hard edge to Loki’s eyes which could only begin to hint at the murderous wrath and unhealed pain there, but it was a set of memories that they had unraveled together before, on a night when their roles had been reversed. Nothing more needed to be said. 

Tony dropped his hands against the couch. “I guess we can’t stand not being the guy with the biggest ego in the room, huh?” 

“It is my opinion Anthony that your ego could use a good deal more size. You have grossly overestimated it.” 

“I can’t tell if we’re making dick jokes right now.” 

“We are not.” 

“Fine.” 

They both smiled then, enjoying the moment before the dark room and droning of the television sobered the mood again. Tony was as much in Loki’s lap as he could be, but he adjusted his shoulders and neck, still trying to be closer. “Hey,” he said brightly. “Is it just me, or did I get a pep talk from my sworn enemy?” 

“I’m only a heartless bastard when I wish to be,” Loki reminded him. 

“Hey. I said that to you,” Tony answered. 

Loki smiled genuinely. “You did.” 

Tony pretended to scowl at him. “You’re not the one who should be encouraging me not to give up. It’s ironic.” 

“And yet here I am,” Loki said as though all of his patience were being tested. 

“You just don’t want to lose your greatest foe.” 

“I find your armor rather easy to sabotage,” Loki answered. “You are quite low on my foe list.” 

“Don’t say that,” Tony said. Loki typically avoided doing any true damage to his suit when they were in combat, probably because Tony fixing it meant less time for him to be available to Loki, but there’d been a time when the theatrics had failed and Loki was forced to attack the suit in earnest. He’d spared Tony, it had only seemed awful, but Tony still didn’t need the reminder. Loki had shredded the suit like crepe paper. 

Tony rested his hands over his stomach as Loki smoothed back his hair with such tenderness that it made him feel fragile. It was bizarre, the way they’d been able to come to this, when they could just as easily storm and rage at each other for days. Loki must’ve recognized Tony’s pensive shift because his fingers curled around Tony’s jaw a moment before letting go. “I should very much like to see the world you create,” Loki told him. 

“I wouldn’t hold my breath.” 

“Anthony.” Tony glared daggers. He hated being called that. It was only a testament to his state of mind that he hadn’t made an issue out of it yet. “Your world needs you.” Tony didn’t say anything. “It is not in Iron Man’s nature to give in to despair so readily.” Tony ignored him. Loki sighed, but couldn’t find it in himself to stop stroking Tony’s hair. “This pathetic little Midgardian realm needs you,” he said in a completely different tone, dull and unsympathetic, “yet if I may recruit you for my sinister schemes—”

“I’m not driving your getaway car,” Tony interjected. 

“A pity.” 

“You’re not going to at least offer me head henchman?” Tony asked, offended. 

“There is a long line,” Loki said. “I cannot simply promote you when others have been waiting for years to advance to that position. It would cause dissension in the ranks.” 

“Whatever,” Tony pouted. “Jarv,” he said. “Can you turn off the TV?” Friday did so without comment. The room plunged into total darkness. “And turn the lights on,” Tony said, beginning to sit up. Loki caught his chest, their eyes locking for a moment before Tony succumbed to a silent bid to lay back down, Loki’s hand pressing firmly to his chest. 

Loki felt Tony’s heart pick up a few extra beats beneath his fingertips. 

He lowered his hold so that he rested on the soft spot beneath Tony’s sternum instead. Arc reactor ignored, Tony’s weight sank back into Loki’s lap. Loki’s other hand wound its way into Tony’s hair, brushing the longer ends away from the man’s face. He smiled back when he saw Tony’s lips twitch up. 

Tony held that radiant green gaze until he became self conscious. Closing his eyes, Tony reached for Loki’s hand, curling his around Loki’s and keeping him in place. 

Loki studied the mortal in his lap, cherishing the trust placed in him as his possessive streak purred in satisfaction. He’d stay the weekend. Once Tony insisted on being called by his preferred name and stopped letting Loki get away with manhandling him, he’d know he could leave. 

Tony had been watching the news all day in varying states of distress. Loki’s unanticipated arrival was the first time he’d relaxed. 

Tony squeezed the hand in his. It squeezed back.


End file.
